In Lincoln, by the time you saw the notice of a new cache, chances are that eduCACHEtion will have found it already. He is Lincoln’s FTF champion, and if you are lucky enough to beat him to the punch, you get to have a joyous little victory dance. You almost have to be at the computer with some sort of e-mail warning system when that new cache e-mail comes through too. But out here in McCook, I’ve seen caches average almost a week, with some going unfound even longer. So imagine what my response was when I checked my e-mail about 45 minutes ago and saw not one, but two new caches within about 6.5 miles from me. I quickly changed back into jeans, shoes, and a coat, grabbed my gear and left my apartment.

At first, I almost turned around as I got outside and felt the dribble of rain. Realizing that it wasn’t too bad, I decided to go ahead and hopped into my car. The first cache I hit was Harry Strunk. It was located at a small rest area just East of town. I arrived and pulled to the closest parking spot I could. Grabbing my flashlight and GPSr, I got out and walked in the direction indicated. As I began to look around, I tried to find the large plastic jar mentioned in the description. Then I looked at my GPSr again and noticed that it was putting me about 100 feet off. Annoyed, I walked back and tried again, this time following it towards another location. I quickly found the cache at this spot. Velcroed to the side was the FTF prize, a 3cd Audio Book Series recording of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. I grabbed this and a rubber jacks playset. Leaving behind a small car, a bouncy ball, and a deck of cards, I walked back to my car, admiring the beautiful lightning show on display to the South.

After this one, I had about 3.5 miles to go to get to a historical marker further down HWY 6/34. Called First Homested (Red Willow County), it was marked with instructions to hide the 35mm like container exactly as found to avoid possible mowing or weed-eating. I’ve driven by this spot numerous times, looking to find the historical marker advertised by road signs. I must have been blind, or just pre-illusioned to the idea that this was one of those larger Nebraska Historical Markers. It was just a larger headstone and pretty easy to spot. Parking, I grabbed my flashlight and walked over to the marker. I took a quick look at what it said, then began my search. Moments later, I was opening the cache and signing the log. Another FTF to add to my list. Packing it back up when I was done, careful to set it back how I found it, I got in my car and began the drive home.

Roughly about 30-40 minutes and about 13 miles later, I got back home with two more FTF’s under my belt. Both also added two more finds to my growing list of Elmer’s Mayor and Bunch finds.